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May 2006 to ...
As the month
started, a series of tourdates for the end of
the year were announced. The tour would be
the biggest that the new group would have
embarked on, stopping at towns and cities not
normally visited such as Aylesbury, Birkenhead
and Shrewsbury alongside the usual sites of
Glasgow, Birmingham, London etc. Four
Summer festival dates were also announced
including confirmation of the long-rumoured
Guilfest Festival in July. Two of the
festival dates would see the group as
sub-headliners under the ever-popular Embrace
who recently recorded the official England World
Cup track.
News of the next
single to be taken from 'Suspended By Stars' was
also released. The choice for second
single was originally going to be 'Last Second
Of The Minute' but in response to media
reactions to the track, 'Sun Goes Down On Manor
Road' was decided to be released at the end of
May (later delayed to mid-June to coincide with
the release of Underground Ernie on the BBC and
also aim it closer to the live dates which the
group would be performing at during the Summer
months). The track would again only be
available as a digital download although the
group would be releasing an additional track,
the long-awaited 'Shit Out Of Luck', via their
website at the same time.
Sadly, despite
apparent media interest when the single was
being promoted, it's achieved little success
although sales were boosted by the fact that in
order to receive the bonus track, buyers had to
send the Wonder Stuff's record company a copy of
their transaction receipt.
In the build-up to
the Summer months, more live dates were added
including a special appearance by the group in
London on the night of Miles' birthday where a
small party was held at the Half Moon in Putney,
London which was attended by friends, family and
a small number of fans who had purchased
tickets. The Wonder Stuff played a
shortened set to the excessive temperatures in
the venue but a great night was had by all who
attended.
In August,
Miles was approached by the ITV television
network to take part in their next series of I'm
A Celebrity (Get Me Out Of Here) to be aired in
the Autumn. Miles went along with the best
of intentions but whilst looking around the room
where the meeting was taking place, his eyes
fell upon a picture of Ant McPartlin and Declan
Donnelly, the shows hosts (also known in the UK
as PJ and Duncan). Without engaging brain
before mouth, he proceeded to tell his hosts
what he thoughts of the presenters and promptly
left.
As September drew
to a close, it became apparent that the
much-promoted live album (due for release in
November) was no longer in the release
schedules. After numerous delays by
Universal for the planned rarities release on
their Classics and Collectables label, it had
now been decided that the live album would be
combined with the rarities album and released in
March 2007 by Universal as a complete double
album.
To tide fans over
though, additional live dates were added
including a mini-tour of Ireland and the UK by
Miles and Erica. It was also revealed that
Miles had been working over the Summer with Ian
Prowse (of Amsterdam) on new material for a
forthcoming Underground Ernie soundtrack album.
It was anticipated that the BBC would be
releasing an Underground Ernie single for
Christmas 2007.
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